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Vigil held for Hemet teen who was fatally stabbed

January 16, 2013 | 8:14
am

More than 200 people, mostly teens, gathered for a memorial Tuesday night at the site where a 16-year-old Hemet
student was stabbed to death.

Eric Ronald Sargeant Jr. was
stabbed multiple times at about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday near Acacia Avenue and Cherrywood Drive,
authorities said in a statement. He was airlifted to a hospital, where he died Tuesday night.

Students at the vigil described Sargeant, who attended Hemet High School, as sweet and funny, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported. They held
candles, placed some on the curb and signed a notebook and cross.

Breanna Herrera, a 17-year-old sophomore at Hemet High, spoke in
front of the crowd, saying Eric will live on in their hearts, the
Press-Enterprise reported.

“Eric is always going to live in our memory,” she said later.
“He’s going to live through us.”

No one has been arrested, and police are looking for more witnesses, according to a statement from the Riverside County Sheriff’s
Department. Witnesses said they saw three or four juveniles dressed in
dark clothing stab Sargeant and flee through a vacant field northwest of
the stabbing site.

Anyone with information is asked to contact central homicide at 760-393-3500, the Hemet station at (951) 791-3400 or sheriff's dispatch at (951) 776-1099.